Kids miss out on calcium

IN the days when every young pupil's dairy intake was supplemented by free milk at break time, there was little need to worry about them developing brittle bones.

But with modern tastes increasingly encouraging children to turn to fizzy drinks or low- fat skimmed milk, the condition is on the rise, warn experts.

A third of all pupils in the UK consume fewer than the recommended three daily servings of dairy foods.

In contrast, 60 per cent now drink one can of soft drink a day and one in five gets through ten cans a week. It means many more growing youngsters are deficient in calcium - vital for strong bones - when they need it most.

The result may be brittle bones which break more easily, according to a study which reveals that forearm fractures have soared over the past 30 years.

It has long been known that breaks are more likely to occur around puberty because bones are believed to become more porous as they grow faster.

But the extra hazard caused by lack of calcium is thought to be responsible for the large increase in forearm breaks. It has led to fears that the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis could afflict many youngsters in later life.

A study at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota showed forearm fractures, particularly among young people, have increased by 42 per cent since the 1970s.

Researchers compared data from 1999 to 2001 with figures from 1969 to 1971. Among those under 20, the fracture rate rose from 265 per 100,000 people in 1969-1971 to 469 in the recent data.

Among boys of 12 the latest figure was 1,536 fractures per 100,000, according to the findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr Sundeep Khosla, lead author of the study, said it 'raised concerns' about whether bone development 'may be impaired by lifestyle and dietary factors such as increased soft drink consumption, decreased milk consumption or changing patterns of physical activity'.

Last night Michelle McKinley, the Dairy Council's nutrition manager, said the ' human cost' of the decline in milk consumption, particularly among children, would only be known in a generation's time.